Welcome to the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast interview with Shane Spiers

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Introducing Shane Spiers

Today’s guest, joining us today on the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast interview is Shane Spiers.

He is a chap from the UK who is running away from sheep, sheep and more sheep.

Yes, he is originally from New Zealand but now calls the home of warm beer, ultimate football failure, and Ant & Dec his home.

He is a Business Scaling Strategist and accomplished leader with SME, mid-sized and FTSE 250 company experience.

His career track record is dominated by leading and scaling 7, 8 & 9-figure rapid growth companies.

His roles have included CEO of a 25 million enterprise providing services to central and local government and MD of a 240 million business unit responsible for leading a team of over 1000 people operating in 135 sites in 23 cities.

How The Dots Joined Up For Shane

One of his greatest successes included being part of leadership team that grew a real estate business 2000%, from SME to FTSE 250 company, in 8 years.

These days you will find him on  “Summit SCALE™:

The Seven to Eight-Figure Business Growth Model” a blended learning program that equips seven-figure entrepreneurs with an eight-figure scale model to speed the growth of their business, ultimately for control and choice over exit.

His work has spanned different industries including, among others, healthcare, energy, arts & entertainment, government services, professional services, real estate, housing, and manufacturing.

So how long did he hold back from saying onto the world “Hey guys you are already doing really well……im the guy to make it go really well”

And did he always want to be an entrepreneur, or did circumstances more than desire lead to him making the leap?

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Shane Spiers

Show Highlights

Shane talks openly about his dislike and struggle to find new clients and the cold calling which is

96% of businesses ever make it to a million and beyond and the reasons that keep then from breaking through that ceiling.

Why as a leader you have to set the structure of the business as quickly as possible to stand any chance of making it a success.

Why 90 day goal setting is such a big part of Shanes business, and he reasons that it should be part of yours too.

And lastly……..

How Shane pushed past through the “holding back mindset” that can derail dreams and future ventures like a pro

How To Connect With Shane Spiers

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Return To The Top Of Shane Spiers

If you enjoyed this episode with Shane why not check out other inspirational chat with Hal Elrod, Derek Rydall and the amazing Rob Scott

You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy

Audio Transcortion Of Shane Spiers Interview

Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. join up dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.

David Ralph [0:25]
Yes, Hello, good morning here Good morning to you wanna know across the world sharing me your ears as normal. Thank you so much for being here. Because believe me, if you wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be doing it. Of course, I would be doing it because my guest is here as well. And it would be rude to just sit here in silence with him waiting. He’s a guy that I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with because I was on a very short five minute kind of podcast video, but he invited me on. And as he was doing it, I bought this guy’s class and I like him as well. So let’s get him on the show. And let you find out how classy and ice is as well. It is a chat from the UK festival and I think it’s fair to say he’s running away from sheep, sheep and more sheep. Yes, he’s originally from New Zealand, but now calls the home of warm beer ultimate football failure and aunt and deck he’s home which obviously won’t mean anything to people across the world. But if Ant and Dec don’t get back together, we’ve got problems in the UK come back and come back deck you need it is a business gaming strategist and accomplished leader with SME mid sized and 30 to 50 company experience now he’s career track record is dominated by leading and scaling seven, eight and nine bigger rapid growth companies. These roles have included CEO of a 25 million enterprise providing services to central and local government and MD over 240 million business unit responsible for leading a team of over 1000 people operating in 135 cities in 23 cities. I’ve read that 135 sites in 23 cities. It was so impressive as I was reading it through me now one of his greatest successes included being part of the leadership team that grew a real estate business 2,000% from SME to 30 to 50 company in eight years. Now these days you will find him on summit scale, but seven to eight figure business growth model, a blended learning program that equips seven figure entrepreneurs we have an eight bigger scale model to speed the growth of their business ultimately for control and choice over exit. His work has spanned different industries including among others healthcare, energy, arts and entertainment government services, professional services, real estate, housing and manufacturing. So how long did he hold back from saying to the world Hey, guys, Hey guys, you already doing really well. But I’m, I’m the guy to make it go really well for you. And did he always want to be an entrepreneur? Or did circumstances more than desire lead him to making the leap? Well, let’s find out as we bring them to the show to start join up dots with the one and only Mr. Shane Spiers.

Morning, Shane, how are you?

Shane Spiers [3:05]
Well, David, hello, hello. Fabulous to be here. Looking forward to it.

David Ralph [3:09]
It’s lovely to have you here. And as I was going through your intro there, it’s bloody impressive. It’s bloody impressive. Why did you want to leap from all that bloody impressive stuff? Why Why didn’t you just walk around pointing your finger getting the secretaries to get your coffee and live a corporate life?

Shane Spiers [3:27]
Well, I think it partly because it becomes a bit like football management after a while they’re they’re pretty tough gigs. And I got sick of some of the travel and being away from home and being on the road all the time. And I just wanted to I got to a stage in my life where I thought I want to help other other younger people do this. Now I I’ve got something to give. I love working with entrepreneurs and and I love helping growing businesses. And that’s what I’ve, I’ve always done and, and that when I made the choice to to make the leap and and go out on my own as it were as and start start from the beginning.

David Ralph [4:08]
Well, of course we aren’t going to be talking about taking that leap. Because it sounds so easy. I just took the leap. I just said goodbye to my job. But it’s a big build up that gets to it. So when you was actually in corporate land, were you happy for the majority of it? Was it the last couple of years did you feel like you downstage You’re welcome. How long was the lead up to the leap?

Shane Spiers [4:31]
Yeah, I, I enjoyed corporate land, I enjoyed the growth, the being part of successful companies. And I learned a lot and I continue to learn and it’s one of my philosophies about keeping, keep on learning and just continue to learn to the day I die. So I think it became in that last two or three years, it was a pretty tough gig. And I was getting pretty fed up with that travel and also just kind of trying to grow a business that was turned out to be more of a turn around been been rich, real growth. And we got there, we restructured it, but by the time I’d come through that I thought now, now it’s time to to as the catalyst for something different.

David Ralph [5:19]
And that’s the key thing, isn’t it? The catalyst for something different, something different, I always think is something good, even if it doesn’t pan out, because it inspires you, it challenges you It gets you going again. And certainly when I was in corporate land, I think looking back on it, I got to the point where I’d seen it five times six times, it was just like a circle going round, and then round. And then the new manager would come in and say, I’ve got this great idea. This is what we’re going to do. And I was thinking, Oh, I saw this 15 years ago. And when I saw it 10 years ago, and it didn’t work, man and I kind of lost my motivation is a challenge. What makes you come alive is it is more more than the money on I could give you a million pound but you’d be born every day. Is it about the challenge?

Shane Spiers [6:05]
Absolutely about the challenge of I’ve just, I love

growing businesses, I love overcoming problems I love facing into a challenge. And I love getting people working together in and focused in working in the right direction. I love getting people focused around the plan and delivering on that plan. And that’s my kind of philosophy and in underlying the work that I do now. And it’s I think it’s key. And yeah, exactly. It’s it’s more of a challenge than the money or anything else.

David Ralph [6:42]
Right. Okay, so I’m going to ask you a question. Now here, Shane, and basically whatever you answer, I’m pretty much going to say you’re a liar. Right? Okay, so this, this is the question,

Unknown Speaker [6:53]
how

David Ralph [6:54]
clued up were you about you were just gonna leap into entrepreneurial and, and it was going to be a breeze.

Shane Spiers [7:02]
I thought it was going to be an absolute breeze, I’ve had 25 years corporate experience, I’ve got a big black book of names. And they would be it’d be, you know, easy to find work. And, you know, I’ll be well sought after I’d be just sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring, but didn’t kind of work out like that.

David Ralph [7:21]
So he kinda got me there, because he came back with the answer I wasn’t quite expecting. So you were really nice, because I was naive. And I think everyone’s know he, we all sort of walk into it. And I think what you touched on there was the fact that you might be the most knowledgeable in the world, you might be most brilliant at doing something. But unless you get the marketing, right, and unless you get the hustle, and unless you actually put yourself out there, then it’s not going to come to you no matter how much it comes to you. I remember listening to an interview with David Letterman. And he was saying for years and years and years, they had some kind of rubbish guests, because he played it should just come to him until he realized that actually, no matter what you do, and what your profile is, you’ve got to reach out and say to people, hey, I’m here. So was that a difficult thing, actually picking up the phone and saying, I’m your main come and work with me?

Shane Spiers [8:16]
Yeah, I don’t think many of us like doing that kind of cold calling sales thing. And I still I still don’t, it’s not, it’s not my thing. And, and many ways, you know, coming out of a kind of corporate culture, you don’t recognize how much how well structured things around you. I remember, in being in good fast growing businesses and often bringing in people who come from corporate structure structures, and they struggled in those fast growth businesses, because there wasn’t enough structure, there weren’t enough processes in place that are in enough systems, and, and all those things. And when you come out of that, and you start a business from scratch, I just recognized how how much work had to be done to put everything in in place, not just, you know, finding customers, but also how I was going to deliver my services, how I was going to go and find leads and and before I even got to the point of how to making a sale, and then just all the other things that come along with revenue collection, and, and all of those sorts of things. So I kind of knew in the back of my mind, it was there and all that done, but I just kind of made the leap without thinking about it too much. I just kind of thought this will be this will be a breeze. You know, you’ve got so much experience, you’ve got the back book of you know, all the connections, and we’ll just fly and I kind of came to a realization pretty quickly that there was a hell of a lot more groundwork that I needed to do if I was going to build a business built around my IP, if you like, and I get a I better get to it in terms of laying that groundwork and putting everything in place that needs to be in place.

David Ralph [10:07]
It is it is common sense when we’re talking because I’m listening to you. And I’m thinking yeah, absolutely. You know, I started join up dots, with the total belief that all I had to do was talk and people would come. And I will be having puppy lunches and everything would be fantastic. I realized, and I’m interested in your perspective on this as well. And I’ve been talking to some of my colleagues about this. But I think I went through a stage or what I now call the online disease, where I’m at corporate land, everything’s buzzing around me and I’m getting a bit sore. hassled and Ben are moving to online, and it’s calm, I’m in control. I’m sitting behind the computer, I’m doing my work. But then something starts to go fried. And I’ve realized that I’ve suffered over the last year or so we’ve what I call online disease where you actually have to have an online and offline business, you have to have interaction, we’re real people to keep you going. Have you found the same? Did you sort of leap into a world of just emailing and LinkedIn before you realize that actually, this isn’t making me as happy as I thought it would?

Shane Spiers [11:13]
Yeah, I stumbled it probably around the other way. Actually, I I kind of went into this thinking I was going to be a typical consultant work very much hands on, implemented working with business owners in their businesses and teams face to face. And that’s where I started. And that’s kind of got me going and and helped me refine my business. But I what I kind of realized was pretty early on that there, there are kind of limitations to that not least that you can only do so many hours in a week. And it’s difficult to scale and impact many businesses working in that way. And I, I realized that if I wanted to practice what I preach, and scale, my own business online was going to be the way that I did that. So that’s where the summit scale program was born. But then I had to, I was kind of like going back to school I didn’t know much about online, I’ve been leading large businesses, and there’s always someone in your business you surround yourself with really smart people who know about all this stuff and knew this stuff, might my kind of skill set is about coordinating and getting stuff done. And all of a sudden, I was having to do this myself hands on and start from scratch. And so yeah, I didn’t go into this kind of with a mission of Oh, this is good. This is I’m going to start an online business. But I pretty rapidly got to that too. I thought you know what was lying in the back of my mind, if I’m going to help many people, I’ve I’ve got to find a different way of doing it. I’ve done it in my career today by working in businesses and one business at a time. But I felt if I’m going to scale my own business, I can buy do a building an online business, I can impact many more businesses than the traditional route.

David Ralph [13:04]
Now, I’ve been very impressed by what you’ve done so far, because you haven’t been doing it that long. And you have got a team around you give us some understanding of what’s actually happening now, compared to a couple years ago when you started. And basically I imagine you started it on your own.

Shane Spiers [13:23]
Yeah, I started on my own. And basically, I was a one on one consultant going in and working with management teams. And I probably I really only just started 18 months ago, and really had a few clients that were basically built out a referral from my earlier experience in my earlier connections. But I kind of step back a bit and less client work actually to focus on building my own own business and and build an online platform. And most of my focus has been on lead generation systems marketing systems and the things like the the podcast or the as the my blog got that going. And I found that a really useful way to connect with other business owners, other business experts like yourself, who are providing specific services to business owners. But I also found that what was critical to, for me to to really get focused on what who was my niche? Who is my ideal customer? Who do I really want to work with and, and how do I start to reach them. So that that has been a real mission in itself, getting really clear about who I work with, and what I what I found that I didn’t really realize this, until I really started to look into it that many business owners are stuck not 96% of businesses in the UK and the US don’t make it to 1 million of revenue with he took pounds or US dollars done really relevant. And so only 4% of firms reach that 1 million a turnover and then only 10% of those make it to 10 million. That’s, you know about point 4% of businesses make it to 10 million. And what I kind of realized is my thing has been about helping business owners, whether I’ve been in there working for them or whatever, I have a real gift to to get help help business owners and help leaders get focused on the things that they need to do to face into the real barriers that, that come when you grow a business and get to that kind of size, because up until up into typically about 750,001 million in revenue it’s built about. It’s built around you as the business owner, you can control everything you can, you can tell everyone what to do. But once you get to that sort of level, and it’s more about the numbers of people working for you, typically seven to 10 is mostly any the amount that any of us can manage, then it starts to get more complex and the more people that you have, the more complex it gets. And that’s when you’ve got to start working in a different way. And that’s what I’ve kind of focused on on I’ve tried to make a leap because there’s another thing that I kind of focus on. But the businesses don’t grow in straight lines, they grow in peaks and troughs. And the the real key that I’ve found is that you’ve got to find ways to leap from peak to peak, if you like, of kind of how businesses grow. And that’s what I’ve been focusing on my business trying to get it scaled quickly. So I’ve got a team around me most of what none of the people are in the UK, most of them are dotted around the world.

David Ralph [16:46]
How many?

Shane Spiers [16:47]
Seven, seven, working for me at the moment, two and Bangladesh, one in Kenya and foreign in the Philippines.

David Ralph [16:58]
So how do you afford because it this is a big stumbling block. I know. And I, I’ve totally switched on this. But I think that the model of being a solo printer is rubbish. I now think that because there’s too much on you. And I was a big advocate of being a solo opinion, I now see that a team is how a business grows. But so many people, especially at the beginning, can’t afford it, or they can’t invest into it. So how have you in two years looked at it and go and actually, I’m willing to pay these guys? And have you got enough work to keep them in full time employment? Are you doing it as in task? How are you doing it?

Shane Spiers [17:39]
It’s a bit of both. So for example, the thing about I use a platform mostly called up work, there are other there’s other platforms out there Freelancer and those sorts of things. But what I’m, I’m I know what I’m good at. And, you know, over the years, I’ve become, you know, as a leader of fairly large businesses, I’ve, you know, got higher and higher up the kind of order of doing much more focused on strategy and execution. And I know I’m not very good at doing fiddly bits in the back end of websites, or all those kind of technical jobs or even things like publishing my my own podcast and editing and all of that. And so there are much more smarter people out there that can do those things much better and more efficient than iTunes. So if I can tap into this kind of labor pool that’s around the world, so I’m not paying lots of dollars, most of these people are on doing five or 10 hours a week for me at, five, $5, five $8 US dollars an hour. And then I kind of bonus have a bonus system what on on success. So I’m paying a kind of a flat base rate for building people to to to do the work that I need doing. And then paying them on for achievement as well. And, and that’s the way that I can afford it. And these are really smart people, there’s really highly educated people with degrees who speak really good English in these countries. But these are really good wages for those people when. And so, you know, sometimes I feel good about that. I’m helping helping them but also and it’s a really efficient way of getting work done that I’m not very good at

David Ralph [19:25]
it. So we’re talking roughly about 40 quid a week. But each person

Shane Spiers [19:31]
Yeah, that yeah, that’s about right.

David Ralph [19:33]
And so for 40 pounds, which is about $65, I’ve been on the exchange rate, as we’re speaking at the moment, what kind of tasks can they do?

Shane Spiers [19:44]
So, so I’ve got Ruth in Kenya, who takes the, so when I interviewed you, for example, she takes all that recording and, and editing, she does all the publishing on social media, she does the the publishing to YouTube, and, and all of those sorts of things, I don’t have to kind of worry about all that it’s done. And she doesn’t really quickly she can turn it around and 24 hours and that sort of thing. I kind of worried about it in terms of quality, and that sort of thing when I first set it up, but what I what I learned and this is a kind of applies to everything in business very quickly, I learned to capture the processes that I I do something either on YouTube record at what I’m doing or capture it in screenshots and process and it kind of goes back to the kind of Michael Gerber stuff, the way to grow your businesses start getting these processes being done by some someone else. So so that’s for example, I have someone else Nancy in the Philippines, who would have set the meeting up between you and me, she finds people for me to do interview, I’ve got someone else who does the same. But for me to be interviewed. I’ve got someone who does my website work at a heck of a lot written all my graphic design work at a heck of a lot better rates than I could get done here. I will do myself.

David Ralph [21:09]
Yeah, I think I think that’s brilliant. And the thing that you said probably about five minutes ago was you knew your gift. And that’s that’s a big, that’s a big statement of intent. But you actually know what you can do. And you’re not good at fiddling around with websites, you’re not really good. And I actually got up at four o’clock this morning, and I received a message back, my website was down, it wasn’t down in the United Kingdom, but it was down worldwide, which I couldn’t actually understand. And I spent about an hour and a half fiddling around with it, because I can do that. I can do it. But it’s not the right way of doing it, you know, I should just throw it out. But I find it quite a problem that I have got experience in so many things now that I can throw my hand to, why do I hand it out to somebody else, I can just do it myself. And I know but that’s ultimately holding myself back. And I’m not gonna, I’m not going to be climbing up summit scale and planting my flag at the top. I’m I

Shane Spiers [22:05]
know that. And that’s, you know, I’m trying to practice what I preach, really, because that’s what I learned in growing fast growing businesses and large businesses. But it’s one of the things that I try to help the leaders that I work with kind of make this from this point of getting stuck and getting past that million pounds of revenue. And then and then growing from there that you’ve got to let go, you’ve got to build a business that’s doing all this stuff. Because you as a leader have got to learn new skills, about how you lead about how you run a business, how you create the environment for people to perform, how you set strategy and get really how you get your organization, those people really clear about the principles, your guiding principles, your values, and, and your plan and your vision for your business. And those are sort of skills that you’ve got to learn as you kind of get get to the next stage. And it just keeps coming keeps growing like that there are new skills to be learned along the way as you go.

David Ralph [23:06]
But let’s play some words now. And we’re going to delve back in with Mr. Shane Spears, Oprah Winfrey,

Oprah Winfrey [23:11]
the way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.

David Ralph [23:43]
You buy into those words Shane

Shane Spiers [23:45]
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

David Ralph [23:48]
Now that the thing about that, that he doesn’t kind of say it, but when you think about it, she says it is. But it doesn’t matter what decision you make. If you make a decision, it turns out to be wrong, make another one, and just keep on making one’s and it’s the people that just sit there. Now I have a coaching platform, which actually this week, I’ve really sort of hit home with them. And I’ve said to the guys, I’m closing it down unless you’re willing to take action because I found a lot of the people in there, were kind of looking for perfection, they were looking for that that idea about had to work, I can’t do bass and bass and bass leading to it. It’s got to be right. And so they weren’t really doing anything at all. And so out of about 85 people have whittled it down to about 20 who understand this concept and are willing to go for it. Do you look for perfection? Are you happy to just go to bed and go look, I’ve spent a whole day I’ve done nothing today, you know, I just everything’s been flat.

Shane Spiers [24:42]
I’ve learned not to I started I kind of started earlier my career as a perfectionist I am a bit OCD and some things are like a clear desk and and but I also liked perfection and the work I do I like quality. But I kind of developed and learned a lot the way that it’s exactly that point that you making a decision that just kidding, action done is is the key. And what I’ve also kind of learned along the way is that that’s where a lot of businesses fail and fail in an execution. And if some research that I kind of picked up along the way that 70% of CEOs fail, because of poor strategy execution, not because of strategy of their their vision, their plan and what they did, but because of poor execution. So that’s that’s where the rubber hits the road and it at an individual level or organization level is absolutely key. And you know what Oprah saying there is bang on?

David Ralph [25:47]
You love these kind of fight? Yes, that stone you that 70% of CEOs found 96% of businesses don’t go beyond median and be Let’s be more positive. Let’s look at the 4%. Look, let’s look at 30. So So is that your target audience vote? Did you look at that? And you go, okay, you’re 70% percenter? that’s who I’m going to talk to your 96%? Or? Or do you sort of look at the positives?

Shane Spiers [26:13]
No, I tend to, I tend to have a mixture of both I’m kind of part of my kind of personal outlook is built around positivity, those kind of stats kind of drive me all night. That’s what, that’s what motivates me. That’s a challenge, though, to, to, to face into and to overcome. And, but it was I think they’re also informative, it they really informative to why things don’t happen at times, and I don’t want to be in part of those stats, I want to be in the, in the positive side of those and, and to touch wood to most of my career I have and because you focus on those things that need to be done and, and learn, learn from the best about will what what is what is it that makes them successful? What can I learn from them, that’s going to enable me to be successful?

David Ralph [27:04]
Now with yourself? I keep on looking in the introduction, and it says seven, eight and nine figure rapid growth companies now. I don’t know your financial outlook. But I would imagine that you’re not on nine figures. I probably imagine, you know, and I because that’s a big mindset, isn’t it step for you to go, guys, you’re doing so much better than I am you’re doing so much better than anyone I possibly know. I’m still remain to help you get Berber? How did you cross that? How did you go from that kind of my imposter syndrome that we all struggle with? No matter who we are? How did you go from that to be the guy that can say I’m the answer to your, your, your problems.

Unknown Speaker [27:48]
I think it was

Shane Spiers [27:49]
one of the things I’ve built up the confidence over the years. And during my track record. I you know, personally, I’ve got a level of credibility. But that doesn’t mean you know, I’m kind of starting again, I’m starting a bit been in the seven eight and nine figure businesses and, and grow in them. But I’m right back. Now I’m started at zero and, you know, still working my way out of five and six figures in my own business. So but what i what i what it comes to me is that it comes down to is that in business, you’re either going forward, or you’re going back to it, there’s no stable point, if you think you’re stable, and you contend you’re actually going backwards, and you’re you’re, you’re going to slip into the abyss. So I’ve just got this outlook and and what I’ve seen from successful businesses that you always have to be moving forward. And, and and growing. And that’s what I kind of focus on what is the next next stage. And when I kind of talked earlier about there are these stage typical life cycles of businesses have have these peaks and troughs. And I’m kind of always looking to the what’s the next net the next peak? But that’s going to be or more likely, what’s the risks of the trough that we’ve got to overcome to get to the next peak?

David Ralph [29:11]
Yeah, but you must have always had the Who am I? Who am I? Because, you know, it sounds easy. From what you’re saying? Yeah, I can look at the peaks. I can look at the troughs and just work. I’ve got a track record. But you must have been sitting there in your underpants at home on the sofa thinking Can I pull this off? This is new to me, because you’ve gone from where you’re comfortable to where you’re not?

Shane Spiers [29:34]
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got hadn’t had real moments of real self doubt that, you know, am I up to this, it’s one thing been growing lots of, you know, businesses out there and done this, they’ve done these things, but can I do it for myself again, you know, from from the start in a whole new whole new world, which it’s a young person’s game and all that sort of thing. And I partly that drives me on the challenge of that, but absolutely, I have doubts about am I can I do this, you know, all of those stats out there, you know, businesses not making past two years and five years and all of that but I suppose I it’s, I suppose the way I kind of keep bringing it back to me that I kind of keep keep my eye on the prize what’s the kind of vision I have for for me and my business in the future? Am I taking act coming back to the point we talked about, am I taking action every day, and am I am I still learning and growing and if I’m doing those things, then that’s what’s got me through my life to through those tough times in the past. And then there are things though, that I kind of, there are some few kind of philosophers that I kind of hold on to that have kind of get me through some of the top dog candies, you know, a man you know, as is but a product of his thoughts what he thinks he became comes and I kind of keep reminding myself to, to always try and come back to positive thoughts and positive and, and, and most of my motivate my motivate myself in that way.

David Ralph [31:13]
But who is your mentor, it’s all having motivational images around you, you know, but that can only get you so far who’s the person that you turn to? When you go, kind of have a point with you, I’ve got a few issues. This is something I can’t solve myself.

Shane Spiers [31:28]
Yeah, I’ve had many coaches and mentors over the years. And I’ve tried over the years and tried to find them. And right now, I’m working with a guy called Tom Poland, who’s a kiwi, based in Australia. And I found him because that’s the area I’m focused on my business where I want to learn most around marketing and lead generation and all those things. And I’ve found Tom, a real mentor in that respect of focusing on my business. I am also by nature, an introvert so I tend to focus inward to get my energy and my thoughts and aligned and all of that sort of thing. I don’t need to bet some people more extrovert who need to bounce off others and, and all of that sort of thing. So I find I’ve got to find the right mentor for what I’m really focused on my business at a particular time. But I’ve also find that I find writing a really useful way writing out my plans, writing out my goals, and and my lists and all those sorts of things is a really good way of getting stuff out of my head on the paper. And it’s another one of those things that of what I work with my clients of getting the vision and getting the, the the what will they want to achieve with their business out of their head because you can’t grow a business and get people aligned around you working for you aligned to if it’s all in your head, you’ve got to get it out there. And, and getting it onto a plan on a page as I call it is is a really useful way of doing that.

David Ralph [33:07]
And have you ever had a bad idea that’s flashed into your head that you think this is brilliant, but then it’s too big, it’s too big, it’s something that’s sort of down in the future, if you’ve got anything that you’re working towards, but you know at the moment is no go is not going to happen is something to aim for.

Shane Spiers [33:26]
Well, I suppose it’s more about timing I ultimately, I have this kind of vision for my business I want to be known as a leading online management advisory business for particularly for seven figure entrepreneurs kind of get to those those people that kind of got to that point and need to retire I’ve also got a kind of personal vision personal goal for myself to one day have be working as you said in your introduction, I’m from New Zealand and I’ve kind of accidentally ended up in the UK married and English girl and all those sorts of things, and I love it here. But it was I want to spend more time back in New Zealand and that sort of thing. It later so I have this kind of goal I want to have two homes one of the UK and one in the New Zealand and and being in the UK from April to September and New Zealand October to March. So I’ve also building my business around wanting to do that. But I know that that’s going to take time and and all of those sorts of things. So those are the stage those kind of long term 10 year kind of goals that I have in mind that I’m kind of working back from to rocky so how do I how do I now start to do the work towards those make those that vision a reality by the steps on taking today

David Ralph [34:43]
is I have yearly goals. When I started join up dots I basically for this, if this takes five years, six years or seven years when so be it if you want to be something and this goes out to the listeners, if you want to be something you gotta do it. And yeah, you got a key point doing it. You know, nobody hasn’t had success straight away or majority of people don’t most famous people and I’ve listened to a lot of autobiographies. I listened to a lot of stories on YouTube. I was actually watching a guy called Don Henley from the Eagles last night on the TV. And okay, eagles, fantastic band been around forever. Everybody knows burn. And he was saying how for the first eight years, they just performed in bars where people were throwing things at them. And like Michael Boogaloo would turn up at a place and there’d be no one there. And so he would just perform to the pastor, you know it, everybody starts somewhere, but you’ve got to keep on doing it. So when I started join up dots, I had a yearly plan. And then I had a to yearly plan. And I had a five year the plan. And the big in between. I make it up as I go along. I’m not that Yeah. Because on month planes, because I find those kind of hard to achieve. And I get this disappointed, because sometimes it doesn’t quite happen. And then suddenly, three or four things come really quickly. But that’s how I do it. And I’m back on track.

Shane Spiers [36:07]
Yeah, I spot on I actually teaching practice 90 day goals, because I think particularly an organization, the human big kind of focus can kind of last about that time. So it’s not into getting into detailed planning every 90 days, but it’s getting into resetting. What are the if these are my yearly goals? These are my five yearly goals. These are our 10 year kind of vision over the next 90 days, what am I 234 biggest things that I’ve got to get achieved? What are the priorities for my business? And I find that a really useful way of one getting stuff done and getting momentum in the organization, but also helping to refocus and it often in their 90 day come back. It’s just gonna, okay, yeah, we see we’re doing this, we’ve achieved that great time to celebrate what we’ve achieved in the, in the last 90 days, and what it what are we doing for the next 90 days. So yeah, shrinking it down, shrinking it down, I find it helpful.

David Ralph [37:11]
I had something brilliant happened to me recently. But it’s been terrible as well. If anyone follows along with join up dots, you will have heard me mentioned this, but I had a cute gout hit me, which is the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. And for about three weeks, I literally sat in an armchair, I didn’t do join up dots, I sort of kept away from it, just kind of watching Netflix, dozing and thinking about stuff. But it gave me and I was feeling about things that I’m doing all the time. But I suddenly realized that actually, I don’t think they’re bringing me any results here. I’m not even sure why I’m doing them that I think I should be bringing into it. You do need to have those moments, don’t you shame where you step away from it, you walk away from it, and allow your brain to just kind of float? Because that’s when clarity occurs? Did you find at the beginning, you’ve got a bit messy, you’re trying to do everything and you kind of lost your focus? Or were you all already sort of, on on the direction that you had to go?

Shane Spiers [38:12]
No, absolutely. I have a long list of stuff. I have a day book that I kind of refresh my list of to do this every day. And, and and you kind of have this ambitious plan, I’ve all the stuff to do. And I get all that done. But what what, what another thing that again, it just applies to me. And it also applies to the businesses I work with most businesses have too many priorities have too many things, they focus on the end up doing stuff in a mediocre way, rather than focusing on getting one or two things done really well and then stepping back and say, Okay, what how’s that work? What do we need to do next? And and it’s the same same for me I you know, I get a long list of stuff to do I just keep keep looking at the list without actually focusing on Well, what what are the key things that I upset? absolutely have to do?

David Ralph [39:04]
So So what are your key things? When What if you know it, because every business has an 8020 principle, I’m a great advocate at 20 Well, what is your your 20 that brings you 80% results.

Shane Spiers [39:18]
Right now for me, it is focusing on getting all my marketing, my lead generation stuff done. So I’m building focusing on building assets, like my mind, my guide, my did my website, all of those things, getting those things put in place, and getting those all joined up so that the message is the same. And as you all these things take time. And what I found is that my my thinking and my articulation of what I do, and all of that has kind of evolved and and so you got to keep coming back and revisiting and making that these things joined up because otherwise be I think it confused people. So those are that’s those are my real priorities at the moment. And then then focusing on my delivery how, how do I continue to scale my business scale my, my program that makes it really meaningful and useful for the clients that I’m working with? And I’m so I’m constantly refining and learning from my clients of what’s worked, what hasn’t, what I need to change? How do I make a process that we go through, and this particular, this particular thing we’re trying to do much more simpler and, and straightforward. So

Unknown Speaker [40:35]
I it’s,

Shane Spiers [40:36]
you know, those things that I see it about, I’ve got to build all those things for my business, I’ve got to continue to do that. And most right now, for me, that is focused on building marketing assets. And then the bit that comes up with as, as it hopefully that works out and I get more sales and more clients, then I’ve got to find more efficient ways of delivering my services. So that’s, that’s following close second,

David Ralph [41:00]
would you say on the 8020 principle that you are where 80% of what you do is found and 20% is a little bit rubbish, we all have rubbish in our business, we can’t get away from it. And how much of it is in your sweet spot at the moment.

Shane Spiers [41:16]
Quite a lot of it. I you know, some of it’s tough going when you’re starting from scratch, trying to set out your philosophy, your way of working and articulate that and articulate that and all your marketing and, and and everyone you speak to that that takes a while but you kind of pulling all of that stuff together in into, you know, a critical piece of work. But I think the other thing that you know we talked about earlier is getting on this point of starting to farm out that stuff that I’m not good at and not don’t need to be doing. I’ve kind of got it set up, I’ve now processed it as quickly as I can outsource that stuff to someone who can do it much better than I can. is the key for me.

David Ralph [42:02]
keeper everything isn’t it really is we all have maybe one or two things, we have one thing which are classed as Super talent you say as a gift, then we have sort of things that we can do quite well. But there’s a lot of it, it just takes to looking on YouTube and googling and trying to find out how to do but you know, I’m a great advocate of knowing your business and know enough of your business and knowing if somebody is ripping you off by telling you that it’s going to take Yes, yeah, I was. So I’m a great believer in not just delegating straight away. But it does come a point where you’ve got to go Enough is enough.

Shane Spiers [42:34]
Absolutely. And And again, that’s building into my own business. But as I and part of the thing that teach them learned and growing larger business, you’ve got to have as well as good systems and processes, you’ve got to have good controls, intelligent business controls, and then not for you. So you can control your business. That’s one of the things is that you don’t want to be controlling everything that’s going on your business, what you got, you’re guiding principles, but what you’ve got to have is an insight into what’s going on. So I’m, I’m a, what I call trackers, I have trackers for everything. So they’re all on spreadsheets, I run my business trade sheets, but I know what the activity that these key numbers for some of my, the guys that work for me, and if we’re hitting the numbers and what that needs, needs to be. So those are just kind of what I call intelligent business controls that it gives you an oversight of, Okay, I can see what’s going on in the business, I can forget about that. And then you can focus on the things the red flag, the things that are off track, what’s not working, what what do I need to change those sorts of things.

David Ralph [43:43]
Let’s play the words now from a guy who basically used to looking in the mirror. And if he didn’t like what he was doing for 10 days on the truck, would make a decision to change it. It just wasn’t working for him, Steve Jobs,

Steve Jobs [43:55]
of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future, you have to trust in something, your gut destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.

David Ralph [44:30]
Have your dots giving you the confidence, as he says to make your own path.

Shane Spiers [44:36]
Yeah, absolutely. But you There are times when, you know, you kind of doubt yourself. But you know, when you particularly starting in, you know this, I’m restarting a whole new business and you kind of things but I kind of go back to those things that the dots that have joined up for me in the past that, you know, focus on the prize that keep to keep taking action and keep learning those things are making kind of models, and those are the things that have always joined up for me and and things have gone my way in the past.

David Ralph [45:08]
And what would be your big story shine at that moment, when you fall, I’m going to make a go with this, this is it, I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m now ready. The dots have joined up, boom, I’m on my way.

Shane Spiers [45:21]
Yeah, I suppose the big join up dots thing was when I started to come out of the corporate and, and go into setting up on my own and start start advising consulting. And,

Unknown Speaker [45:37]
you know, I

Shane Spiers [45:38]
I’ve kind of got to a point where there is a kind of formula and blueprint that, that it really worked for me in running large businesses and growing businesses from period small to to large. And, you know, I thought those things I can add, those are the principles that I kind of hold on to and, and can apply to my own business, it’s scary, I don’t know how going to do this, I have I got enough runway space, you know, a lot of that, I mean, by the time for me to be able to, you know, cash in the bank to fund that I’m not going to be fully earning for, you know, a period of time and, and all of those things, and, and I just those things that have kind of worked for me in the past that that came together about, you know, keep that keep that end in mind, keep that prize in mind, let’s set bigger aspiration, keep taking the action that you need, making those decisions, taking action, and keep learning those things. Those are the things that joined up for me and and and those are the kind of my anchors that kind of say, right? Well, I’m still you know, I’m right still in the middle of this, I’m only 18 months into business, I always thought it would, you know, take two, three years to get going. And those are the things that are still right now every day when I have those moments of doubt, and all of that sort of thing that I kind of have onto,

David Ralph [47:01]
which is one of the reasons when we did our video together, but I wanted to have you on the show because so many people are like 10 years into it. 12 years. And of course the listeners out there, they haven’t quite started yet. So 18 months, does it seem a blink of an eye? Does it seem like a lifetime.

Shane Spiers [47:19]
But both It feels like oh my god, where those haircut those weeks gone so fast. And and it’s just going so fast. And then other times I look back and say well, but look how much how much you’ve achieved and how much you’ve moved on. And, and and, you know, you know what? Things are going the right way? So yeah, absolutely. And moments of it feels like it. It’s gone very fast and continues to go fast. Other moments I kind of reflect back on. Yeah, you’ve achieved a lot.

David Ralph [47:51]
Life does go quicker as you get older than me because I’m 48 and I never used to dwell on, go down. Let’s tell me if I got left. But I’m, I’m seriously into that now thinking, you know, I hear people say, oh, when I was 60, and oh, my God, it’s only like 12 years away or whatever. And that’s, that’s an old person 60 Of course, it’s not nowadays, but I feel like I’m on borrowed time. I feel like I’ve got to do stuff every single day.

Shane Spiers [48:17]
Yeah, I do, too. I speaking to an entrepreneur, and I interviewed an entrepreneur earlier this week. And he he said he, he’s retired four times. And every time he retires, he’s a successful guy has to come back and be doing something and I’m in that space. You know, I’m early 50s now, but you know, I I’d see him other 1520 years, I’ve got to be I’ve got to be doing stuff, I need the challenge I I need that level of commitment to in my daily kind of life to be to be working on stuff. And you know, absolutely, I’ve got to keep going. Yeah,

David Ralph [48:54]
I wish I had this earth 25 years ago, 25 years ago, I literally was just floating along, of course athlete just floating along, earning money coming, you know, nice holidays and stuff. I I didn’t have that, that issue. And I didn’t have that I’m an impatient to take people with me on the journey to take people and make a difference across the world. And that’s the thing that inspires me is not join up dots. It’s when I get a message from somebody and I say, because of the show, I’m now doing this or be and they’ve never contacted me they they just listen and they kind of take action. That is the true legacy. That’s what inspires me the challenge.

Shane Spiers [49:31]
Yeah, absolutely. And the The other thing that inspires me, what you talked about just then is that, you know, organizations, particularly mediocre Oprah ones have a have a way of sucking the life out of things because you you don’t feel part of something bigger and, and bigger purpose and something that you can try and do achieve when you’re working some of these organizations. So your fear, you’ve got account going out and and do it on your own, I think you can be achieved in organizations provided their, their, their their achieved in the right way. But the other the point, that kind of response in there, that is my kind of philosophy. And you quoted Steve Jobs. The other thing that I heard Steve Jobs talk about recently was abuzz about asking for help. And he was talking about that people are reluctant often to ask for help. And one of the things that I learned along the way. And we were lucky in some of the business I worked in to be able to find some of the most the best advisors on the planet, world class advisors, coaches, consultants in particular areas. And I guess that was what Steve Jobs was talking about what I apply. And that’s why finding people that can inspire you finding people that are better than doing stuff than you, that inspires me as well. So I can learn from them and get better at the stuff that I do. And that’s that thing that I keep coming back too about. Keep learning every day. If you’re learning and you’re growing, then that’s all you can ask. Ask yourself.

David Ralph [51:06]
Absolutely. And I suppose that is a nice way to get to the point of the show that we’ve been leading to, which is what we call the Sermon on the mic, when we’re going to send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young Shane, what age Shane would you choose? And what advice would you like to give him? Well, we’re gonna find out because I gotta play the theme. And when it fades you up. This is the Sermon on the mic.

Unknown Speaker [51:37]
We go with the best bit of the show.

Shane Spiers [51:56]
Hey, Shane, you’re now early 40s. I think it’s time for you to come out of corporate earlier, it’s time for you to make that jump you already did. I know you want that experience to give you some more gravity and more credibility when you make that leap one day, but I think you’re ready. So it’s time. But you will make and build a fantastic business. That’s what you’ve always done. So stick to your own rules. Keep your eye on the prize, take action every day and keep learning and growing. And this be more of yourself. Don’t let others tell you or who you ought to be bigger, more giving of yourself without fear of inadequacy, you can do this. Good luck.

David Ralph [52:42]
Yeah, you do it, you do it. And one day you’re going to be on join up dots may and yeah, we’re going to connect and it will be good. So for all the people out there, Jane, what’s the number one best way that they can connect with you?

Shane Spiers [52:54]
www dot summit leader.com. Go there. And there’s loads of resources and ways of connecting with me. Check it out.

David Ralph [53:03]
Yeah, we have all the links on the show notes. So you can come over to join up dots and look for the recent podcast episode. And you will find Shane just click on the link and get straight through. Now, Shane, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again when you got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Shane, thank you so much. Thank you, David. Appreciate it. Mr. Shane Spears, who’s a he’s a master at scaling his business, but not just from sort of the low level to high levels. And of course, he’s doing the same himself. And that’s the reason why I wanted to have him on the show. As I say I connected with him through he’s, he’s platform. And I thought to myself, that’s interesting. 18 months in this is quite new. And I was sending out to you guys as well, if you’ve got a business, and you’re in that hustle stage, and it’s a side hustle, and you’re going to work and you’re you know what it’s like the early doors of a process, bank, connect with us go over to join up dots. And you’ll see down at the bottom, apply to be a guest sell yourself to us. And we’ll have you on the show because it’s you guys at the cutting edge is us guys with the hustle. That’s the inspiring thing. And that’s going to make a difference across the world, you’re three steps ahead of the next person behind you. And that is a journey that I can follow. Until next time, thank you so much for listening. If you want to go over to join up dots, we’re adding free courses, we’re adding a load of stuff that you can download to get more interaction and we’re bringing more of it in as we can. And of course send messages through to us connect with us. And we will love to hear more about how the show is inspiring you or you hate it, even if you send that through and we will take those comments really seriously. Until next time. Thank you so much. And we will speak again. Cheers, bye bye.

Outro [54:55]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to join up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on join up dots.